The 54-year-old Vietnam veteran was jailed in the Nassau County Correctional Centre in February 2007 pending trial on charges he had menaced his wife, and was transferred to a medical observation unit amid fears he was mentally ill.

He says that he was bitten on the penis during the night when a rat ‘or similar rodent’ came out of a hole in his mattress.

He sued for damages, claiming the county had failed to protect him from the vermin and had showed ‘complete indifference to his health and safety.’

However county officials disputed the existence of a rodent problem within the jail, and argued they were shielded from lawsuits because they had been unaware of substantial risks.

They also added that there was not significant bleeding and the wound did not require stitching, but US District Judge Arthur Spatt has ruled the suit may proceed.